Monday, February 16, 2015

CPS Bill Passes, Tebow Bill Vote May Be Tomorrow

With
the able leadership of Senator Norment, VEA initiated SB1117 gained final
passage in the House (99-0) and is heading to the Governor's desk.
This bill amends the Child Protective Services section of the Code of Virginia to
make the reporting deadlines mandatory.

Non-compliance to the 45-day limit causes
several problems:

·Teacher are out of
the classroom too long.

·Local school
divisions are paying both the teacher and the substitute.

·Students are
empowered to “take the teacher out.”

Delegate
Farrell's HB1320, which prohibits requiring teachers to pay for coursework to
satisfy licensure renewal requirements, was reported from the Senate Health and Education
Subcommittee on Public Education with no opposition.This bill now heads to full committee.

This
same subcommittee reported Delegate Greason's HB1675, which has the possibility
of profoundly changing the way schools operate.First, it will allow locally developed tests for verified credits.Second, it removes the 140 hour seat-time
requirement to earn a verified unit of credit.The latter may profoundly change school scheduling and the professional
lives of school personnel.

In
the House Education Committee, Senator Vogel's SB1386, which requires dyslexia
training for teachers seeking initial or renewal of license, was referred to
the House Appropriations Committee.Appropriations killed a similar measure from Delegate Cline before
crossover, so a similar fate should befall SB1386.

The
Tebow (HB1626) bill came up for a vote in the Senate today, but went by for the
day.The vote may be as soon as
tomorrow.

The snow is coming down, but the General Assembly won't stop their work. Please look for a posting tomorrow.